After long day, Orioles talk about 14-inning win over the Dodgers

LOS ANGELES - The Orioles' bullpen kept getting huge outs, but the Orioles offense kept making outs.

Mark Trumbo tied the game 4-4 with a homer in the sixth inning.

When the O's batted in the top of the 14th against the Los Angeles Dodgers, it was still a 4-4 game.

Orioles hitters had a stretch after Trumbo's roundtripper where they went 0-for-21 with 12 strikeouts. Mercifully, that would change. At the same time, the Orioles' bullpen made sure that Dodgers batters didn't come through either. L.A. went 1-for-14 with runners in scoring position and left 16 men on base.

Finally, the clutch hit came. Second baseman Jonathan Schoop's two-run double in the gap in left-center eluded the dive of center fielder Trayce Thompson and gave the Orioles a 6-4 lead. But not until Zach Britton stranded the bases loaded in the bottom of the frame did the O's have an exhausting win.

For the Orioles, it was long and it was tiring, but it was a victory. One that took 5 hours and 26 minutes to earn.

It was the longest Orioles game since the longest in team history that took 6 hours and 54 minutes over 18 innings against Tampa Bay on Sept. 20, 2013.

"You reach that point in the game and everyone is obviously tired," manager Buck Showalter said. "Everybody got about three or four hours sleep last night. Just a lot of solid innings out of our bullpen. We were fortunate that we had three more pitchers available and another guy on the bench.

"We ended up going 4-5 on a tough road trip. (The Dodgers) are playing as well as anyone in their league right now, so feel fortunate to come in here and take two out of three. These guys are very deserving of a day not playing baseball."

So many players had key moments today. Trumbo homered twice, his fifth multi-homer game of the year, to give him a major league-leading 26 dingers. Dylan Bundy fanned seven in 2 1/3 innings, getting every out via strikeout. Vance Worley got Adrian Gonzalez to hit into an inning-ending double play in the 11th. So many times in the later innings the Dodgers had a big chance, but every time an O's pitcher stopped a potential rally.

Britton got the last three outs for his 25th save in as many opportunities. He said, all things considered, this might have been the best day of the year for the bullpen, which threw a combined nine scoreless innings with 12 strikeouts.

"I think it's up there, for sure. The younger guys and maybe some guys that hadn't thrown the way they'd like to came up big. This is a tough place (to play) and they had been playing well. It is another good one for the bullpen."

With one out in the 14th, Gonzalez double off Britton and a walk followed. After a fielder's choice left runners on first and third, Showalter chose to walk Yasmani Grandal to load the bases and put the potential tying run in scoring positon. He knew the Dodgers were out of position players and a pitcher would have to bat. Losing pitcher Chris Hatcher grounded out to end it.

"This was huge. Coming off, I guess, a so-so road trip that we wanted to be better, getting a win like that is good. Now we go into an off day and try to finish strong against the Angels back home," Britton said.

Schoop had been 0-for-5 in the game when his double in the 14th scored Manny Machado and Chris Davis, both of whom singled off Hatcher, the ninth Dodgers pitcher.

"I was happy," Schoop said. "I was going crazy, but I didn't want to show it. I showed it a little bit, but I was going crazy inside. I was 0-for-5 and I wanted to come through big for the team there and get a win. The hardest thing is, I had a few chances to drive somebody in and I failed then. But you have to keep going and stay focused."

Trumbo talked about the challenge of concentrating through that long of a game and also on the amazing bullpen performance.

"Grueling. Seldom, there's a lot of fun to be had when you get past the regular nine innings, especially when it starts creeping into 13, 14, 15 or more. Everyone is pretty spent, usually. It's just really tough. You want to win them, obviously. It feels much better. But it's very taxing," Trumbo said.

"(The bullpen) was incredible. (Los Angeles) had some opportunities, too. But we shut them down. We've seen it all year. It's a testament to these guys, they are nasty. We've seen it all year. A lot of big strikeouts in situations, too. Really proud of those guys."

It looks like Trumbo will definitely be in the Home Run Derby on Monday night at the All-Star Game. When asked again today about it, he said, "I'm doing it."

Showalter said Friday's starting pitcher will likely now be one of two hurlers - Ubaldo Jimenez or Mike Wright. Wright is scheduled to start Thursday night for Triple-A Norfolk, but could be recalled if the O's choose him to make that start.

The Orioles improved to 49-35 overall, 18-22 on the road, and they won for the second straight game after snapping their five-game losing streak last night.

After Thursday's off day, they host the Angels over the weekend in the final series before the All-Star break.